The Game of Life
by writing.the.truth
Summary: Humor and love ties this story together. Bella, recently out of high school and looking for a good college, is suggested to go up to Forks to decide on the perfect college. The story begins here. Spunk, humor, love, and mortality tie this together. B
1. Chapter 1

It was a quiet day in Newton's Hardware. Nothing was out of the ordinary and there was hardly a word spoken. But who would've known a whole other life would start here? An experience that would blow any other customer away? Well, no one knew. I mean, hello? Newton's Hardware isn't a miracle-worker. It just…brought two people together who soon played the silly, chaotic, twisted, fulfilling, all-powerful game of life.


	2. Newton's Hardware

I hadn't been in Forks, Washington for too long. It hadn't even been a week when I found an ad in the paper indicating there was a job at Newton's Hardware available. I wasn't really looking for a job, but I did need any last-minute cash I could get for college. I had brought up the ad and Charlie, my Dad, who said he was a good friend of Mrs. Newton's and said I should go for it.

I didn't think twice.

So I drove the way in a 2007 Chevy Impala my Dad had purchased a week before my arrival. I had taped the directions to the dashboard, watching the rode as the pounding rain drowned out the radios sound.

I remember Mrs. Newton, her curly blonde hair and apron wrapped neatly around her. She was petite in size, slightly chubby, but cute. A tall, blonde-haired boy in the same green apron stood a ways behind her.

"The job, 'eh?" she had asked as I followed her around the store as she re-stocked.

"Uh, yeah. I saw your ad in the paper this morning and I hoped I could—"

"Well, what are you doing just standing there? Aprons are on a hook in the back," she had said, her voice defiant but also light with laughter.

Mrs. Newton wasn't an angry woman. She surrounded herself with her own atmosphere of humor. She joked and laughed and never left you thinking she was a cruel boss. I learned on the first day of the job that the boy was her son, Mike. He was a bit of a pervert but he was exactly like Mrs. Newton.

But before that morning with Charlie and the ad, I hadn't lived in Forks. Change the scenery. I was in Phoenix, Arizona with my Mom, Renee. I had been spending my summer looking up decent colleges and sending in letters. I had gotten a few acceptances, and considered each wisely.

"You know, Bella," Renee had said one morning at her usual spot in the sun, "Maybe you should go see Charlie for the rest of the summer. After all, you won't be able to see him for a while after you get out."

See Charlie?

"Uh…"

"I bet you this sun is also too much," she had added on.

"I-I don't know. I mean, there's only a few more months left and—"

"Just think about it, won't you?" Renee said, getting up from her spot and patting my head as she walked back inside.

I did give thought to it. I gave a lot of thought. And, in the end, I went.

So here I was now, at Newton's Hardware in Forks, Washington, considering colleges and working for extra money.

* * *

There was a boy.

Not just any boy, of course. Or, that's what I thought.

He came in about twice every two weeks, looking around, examining, and giving a few occasional glances my way.

"…So that was how I ended it with Rosalina," Mike finished in the next lane over. We both stood behind cash registers as Mrs. Newton helped each customer around.

"Huh?" I asked, glancing slightly at the boy that had caught my interest.

I didn't think anything of him. It was more that I was annoyed and curious all at once that he would stare my way about every five seconds. What was _his_ problem?

Mike groaned. "You did _not_ just blank out on that whole story!" he said.

I smiled crookedly at him and said, humored, "Oops."

Mike turned away, throwing his hands up in the air in a dramatic gesture.

"That, my colleague, was a story of how to act around a guy. Rosalina did it perfectly—"

"I heard that part," I chuckled, "_She danced on a round table and, eventually, her underwear was off. She flicked it off of her foot, her tight jean skirt still on but her shirt off. And, soon, I was in her panties and_—"

Mike cut me off, his hand flying over his eyes. "Spare me the details," he said, sounding like a total girl.

I just snorted and turned my attention back to where the bronze-haired boy still stood, lingering irritably.

It was soon that Mrs. Newton came to his aid.

"Do you need help, Edward?" she asked him.

Edward shook his head and smiled. "Just"—he paused—"checking everything out."

Mrs. Newton nodded her head.

"Right. Well, our hiking boots are 25% off today," she said and wandered back over to me.

"So?" I asked, sure she knew his problem of staring at me.

"He's clean, sugar. You're gonna have to figure it out yourself. For all I know, he's found his soul mate," she said, walking away shaking her head.

"Hah!" I called back. "Yeah right!"

But there was some form of nervousness in my voice.

* * *

EPOV

_The thrumming of musical keys drifted up to me as I lied awake in bed. Moved, and completely touched to the core, got up to go see who it was._

_My father was a pianist, always playing a tune that reminded me of a lively nature in the dead of winter. So I wasn't all too surprised to see it was him sitting on the cushioned, narrow bench._

_"Ah," my father's husky voice said as the music slowed, "I was wondering when you'd wake."_

_I didn't say anything, clueless as to what to say anyhow. So I just nodded my head. _

_"Come, come," he beckoned, "Let me hear you play me a simple tune," he said, standing to give me the space that was needed for me on the bench._

_I cracked my knuckles, rubbed my eyes, and flipped through the booklet before me. Coming to one I mastered, I cleared my throat and let my fingers glide over the set of black and white keys that belonged to the old, black piano._

* * *

I lived a quite easy, rich life. Each day involved attending a private school that was practically the only one in this small town. I would wake up early and get a shower, eat a rather healthy breakfast, and would be off to school.

My mother was a photographer. She started out at her own studio, taking pictures for weddings, special events, or just family pictures. She enjoyed it deeply. But when I turned ten, she grew to liking nature. It started on a morning jog on a public path in the forest. She had brought her camera along, something she had been doing for nearly a month.

Coming home in a soggy shirt of sweat, she proclaimed something to my father and I at the breakfast table: "I'm going to Africa."

My father, rather startled at her crazy words, got up and helped her to a chair and a glass of water.

"Africa? Dear, are you okay? Did you bump your head on the jog—"

"No," my mother snapped at him, "I'm fine," she said.

Taking it as my cue to jump in, I said, "Why are you going to Africa?"

My mother faced me, her eyes focused on me. Her eyes were filled with something that day, something that I couldn't exactly understand. It wasn't hatred or the generosity of kindness. But I liked to label it as "adventure."

"My pictures need more than happy faces," she said and excused herself from the table, wandering up the stairs.

* * *

In the fall of 2005, when I was fourteen, I attended a funeral for the first time in my life, given that the rest of my family lived in other states.

I read the gravestone like it was a nasty letter from a bully.

_"Here lies Edward Mason, Loving Father and Enchanted Pianist_

_1964-2004"_

"Come on, honey, let others pay their respects," my mother said from by my side as I narrowed my eyes at the grave.

She pulled me along and I stared back at the grave with a sense of hatred and sorrow.

* * *

I opened the door to my apartment, hearing the TV on. I sat my keys down on the table once I walked in, then walked down the hall where my living room was. There sat my two best friends, Emmett McCarty and Jasper Whitlock.

"Come on, come on, come on…YEAH!" shouted Emmett. He sat in my recliner, but he had just jumped up as the TV flashed a golf ball going into the hole.

"Birdy," Jasper said from on the couch, his arm draped over the back.

"Who said you two could come in here?" I said, setting my things down on one of the chairs.

"Uh, you did. Last night," Emmett said, turning around.

"Yeah. Remember? _I may be in late tomorrow so just take the key under the mat_," Jasper replied.

I shrugged, recalling the words.

"Well, why are you guys here anyway?" I said grabbing a few Coors Lights from the fridge. I fished in the drawers for a bottle opener.

"Rosalie was going to be working late at the shop with Alice," Emmett replied as the TV became mute.

"Ah."

I chucked a beer at Jasper, who caught it, and another at Emmett, who pretended to play hot potato with it once he caught his.

"So where were you, Mr. Charity-Piano-Guy-Saying-'I'll-Be-In-Later'?" Emmett asked as he chugged his beer.

"Well, I do have another charity thing tonight in Port Angeles—"

"And…?" Jasper said.

"But I was at Newton's."

"Doing what?" Emmett asked. "Checking out that new employee again?"

Emmett had come with me to Newton's Hardware a few weeks back when we were getting new equipment for our hiking trip later in the week. I had been checking her out, yes, but it wasn't like I stood a chance.

"You got the hots for someone?" Emmett had nudged me, smiling stupidly at me.

"No," I said.

"Don't lie to me, Mason, or I'll kick your sorry little ass," Emmett had chuckled.

"I dare ya," I had pestered.

"Not now. We wouldn't want the _pwetty wady_ to see you get kicked in the nuts."

I shoved him away from me and grabbed the things that we had needed, wandering over to the new employee.

"Did you find everything alright?" the girl had asked as she scanned the items.

"Sure did. Didn't we _Edward_?" Emmett nudged me again, this time harder.

"Mhm."

"Good," she had said, looking a bit amused though it looked like she had no clue what it was supposed to mean.

She had bagged the items and then put them in bags, asking for my credit card. She scanned that too and had then given it back to me, putting my receipt in the bag without asking.

"Have a nice day you two," she had said, her voice tripping over some serious giggles.

I had walked to the door with the bags and had looked back to see Emmett talking with the girl.

"Hey, my friend has taken a liking to your boobs, so can he scan those?" Emmett had asked, directing his hand to her breasts, to the scanner, and then to me.

"Uh…"

"Sorry about that," I laughed nervously, "He has a serious disorder and he…" I had said, grabbing his arm and dragging him away but not Emmett had called, "Seriously! I don't lie about good boobs!"

Presently, I shook my head at Emmett's question turning away to set my beer down.

"He's got it bad," Jasper said.

"No kidding. I didn't even have it that bad for Rosalie!"

"Shut up, you guys," I mumbled.

"That's how you know he's in some major denial," Jasper informed.

I turned around and sighed. What did they know about love? Well, they did obviously if Emmett had a wife and kids and Jasper had Alice.

I rubbed my forehead and asked a bit desperately,

"What do you suppose I do then?"


End file.
